


Guises

by seki



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-02-08 04:19:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12856617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seki/pseuds/seki
Summary: Halloween, separated by years, as celebrated in Insomnia.





	Guises

**Author's Note:**

> Happy 1 year anniversary, Final Fantasy XV! You've been a wonderful, rich well of story and character for me, and you've a great fandom too.
> 
> (I know this is posting a month after Halloween. But I wanted something cute, and all the adorable Halloween Ignoct art that went around got me wanting to write something even if it's a bit late.)

When he's eight years old, Noctis puts his foot down. He's old enough now, he says, to go trick-or-treating by _himself_. He doesn't need a grown-up -- doesn't want a grown-up, especially one of the glaives or the guards. They're boring. And his Dad is always too busy, so it's _always_ a boring grown-up. And anyway, having one of them with him means people can guess who he is, and so what's the point in wearing a costume?

His father listens to his arguments, nods and seems to be taking it seriously, and then asks Noctis if he'll consider a compromise.

Noctis pulls a face. He knows what that means. "A grown-up in costume is still a grown-up, Dad."

"I agree. But what about Ignis?"

"Ignis?"

"He's not a grown-up. What if he goes trick-or-treating with you?"

Noctis thinks about this. Halloween is usually during the week when Ignis goes back home to visit his parents. "Won't he be away?"

"I expect we can ask him to reschedule by a few days."

"And he'll wear a costume?"

"Of course."

"If he says yes." Noctis makes his face serious, so his Dad knows he means it. "And no grown-ups, even if he doesn't."

"Well, we'll see."

"D _aaaad_."

His father pats his head. "I've said, we'll see. Now, come on, you need to show me the pictures you drew today, like you promised."

\--

Ignis says he doesn't mind going home a few days late, and so they get to go to the costume shop together. Because Ignis told everyone that he wanted some practise looking after Noctis on his own, they even get to do that as just the two of them.

"I think the Citadel called ahead," Ignis says, polite as ever, to the lady behind the counter. "They should have opened a credit account for us, I believe?"

"Yes, that's right. You do have a maximum spend amount, but it's quite generous. Let me show you the forms, young man."

Ignis spends a little while longer at the counter, talking nicely to the lady, and Noctis quietly lets go of his hand and walks over to the nearest rail of stuff.

"Don't go too far," Ignis says, but he says it in a nice way, like it's really just for the benefit of the grown-up listening in. Ignis is good like that.

The rail has a few dresses at one end, and Noctis screws up his face thoughtfully as he looks at them. That'd be funny, in a way; nobody would expect him to dress up as a girl. But it's not very _scary_. He flicks through the different hangers: videogame-y thieves, wizards, warriors of different types. Vampire. Frankenstein. Werewolf. Dinosaur. King. Queen. Knight. Priestess. Rock star. Moogle. Chocobo.

Ignis touches him lightly on the shoulder. "Anything interesting?"

"I… I dunno. What do you want to be?"

"Did you want us to be a matched pair?"

"Yeah."

Ignis fingers the feathery wing of the chocobo suit. "I suppose we could get two costumes the same."

That doesn't sound right to Noctis, and he shakes his head firmly.

"Alright then. Come ask the lady with me if they've got costumes that go with each other."

It takes them a while, and the lady at the counter has to go into the storage room to try and find the right sizes, but in the end Noctis looks at them both in the mirror and smiles widely. It's _perfect_. And it wouldn't be half as good if Ignis wasn't playing along with him. \--

Ignis helps him with the headpiece, and Noctis turns his head from side to side and admires the effect. The horns look awesome, but they're heavier than he remembers from the shop, and they wobble a bit on his head. Ignis reaches out his hand and steadies it, and then helps Noctis tighten the strap.

"Better?"

Noctis nods, and the horns stay where they should.

"Put your bangles on, and then I'll help you with the face-painting." Ignis pulls his beard up into place, and lifts the cowl up too. "And you can help me with mine."

They look at the pictures in Ignis's textbook a few times as they go along. Noctis likes the face-painting part; it's fun drawing the black lines that make Ignis look older and scarier, and the flames that Ignis draws of Noctis's face are really _cool_. When they're done, Ignis squints at Noctis again. "Scowl," he says, and Noctis does. "Perfect. Now, like I told you, it's cold out so you'll have to wear your coat, but you can take it off when we're at each door."

Noctis nods. As long as he's allowed to be properly scary at people, everything else is fine.

Their first stop is one of the big neighbourhoods near the Citadel. Noctis knows this area; it's where Dad's councillors all live. Ignis had picked it as their first target; there are lots of kids there, so it'd be best to go early to make sure they get the best candy pickings. It's also an area with a lot of decorations around, which is exciting -- people who put decorations up for Halloween are _five hundred percent_ likely to have better candy, Ignis says.

Ignis helps him take the coat off and stashes it to one side of the first door, and then they arrange themselves: Ignis stands up straight and pulls up the beard, and Noctis gets ready to scowl and roar.

Ignis rings the bell.

Noctis does his best. "Rarr!"

"Oh, oh my god," the woman says, looking first at him and then at Ignis and back again. "Ifrit! Ramuh! How terrifying! Here, mighty Astrals, take as much as you want!"

"Just one," Ignis murmurs, as Noctis reaches into the box of treats, like Noctis needs reminding.

"Thank you!" Noctis says, before Ignis can nudge him on that one too, and the woman beams at him.

They make their way around the whole area; some porches and doorways are dark and undecorated, and Ignis says it's not worth trying those doors because the people are either not in or don't want visitors. Even so, by the time Ignis makes Noctis put his coat on and zip it up properly so they can move on, Noctis's collection bucket is promisingly half-full of sweets.

"Next area," Ignis says, looking at his map, "is the roads near the Royal Park."

They do pretty well there, too; Noctis especially likes the lady who peeks into the basket and offers to trade him more sweets in exchange for the 'healthy' snacks the old woman at the house before had put in his bucket. It's a nice area, and in the park itself there's a party going on with fireworks and adults running around in costumes, so they get to see _grownups_ trick-or-treating. Noctis thinks it's awesome. Maybe Ignis and he can trick-or-treat every year forever.

Finally, they roam the residential levels of the Citadel itself; a lot of the servants and staff have children so people are quite ready for trick-or-treaters, and Ignis is right that by that time those people are all very ready to just give Noctis more sweets than they would earlier on, 'since it's getting late'. Even Cor seems impressed by Noctis's costume, to his delight, and wants to know if the horns are pretend or if Noctis is secretly actually a vessel of Ifrit.

It's the _best_ night trick-or-treating Noctis has ever had.

Back up in Noctis's room, Ignis helps him out of the headpiece and insists they get the paint off _before_ Noctis can lay out all the candy to admire it. Washed and in his warmest pyjamas, Noctis helps Ignis divide the pile up. Some are to eat now -- not too many, Ignis reminds him, because a bellyache will make him sad -- and there's a few candy bars Noctis doesn't like, so Ignis suggests giving those to his Dad tomorrow, but Noctis is going to be set for candy for _ages_.

Ignis has a pile too; not as big as Noctis's, and Noctis suspects that might be because Ignis snuck some of his sweets into Noctis's pile, but Ignis declares himself very happy with what they got.

\--

Noctis flips through a few of the photos stuffed in the drawer. Fond memories, indeed.

"Specs," he says, and Ignis comes over and looks over his shoulder. "Look. Our first Halloween. Look how adorable we were."

"Ah, I remember your 'rarr' like it was yesterday."

"Hey, I was scary. And adorable." Noctis keeps flipping. "Oh, look at you, zipping Ifrit into a warm coat, trying not to get your beard caught in it. Amazing."

Ignis smiles. "I distinctly remember that we were supposed to be on our own. I suppose they sent a Glaive to shadow us, or these photos wouldn't exist."

"...yeah, you're right. Huh. It was fun, though. And they let us think we were alone."

"I was given so many strict instructions about your safety. I was quite terrified." Ignis taps the top photo, where he is holding both buckets as Noctis adjusts his horns. "But you were so happy that it was worth every bit of the anxiety."

Noctis knows Ignis better than to believe it was all _quite_ that selfless. "And you didn't at all get off on being put in charge of me by yourself, no, not at all."

"I felt very proud of being trusted, I know that." Ignis reaches over, picks up the next stack. "And this is the year you wanted to be Kenny Crow. I remember having to go to four different costume shops."

"And you refused to be Kelly. I was so grumpy."

"You let me off with a compromise, at least."

Noctis admires the top photo; Ignis in a moogle suit, Noctis in his Kenny Crow costume, neither of which hid their faces very effectively since they were more like onesies than full costumes. They look serious, Noctis holding tight to Ignis's hand, Ignis clearly in the middle of telling Noctis some sage piece of advice about trick-or-treating techniques.

"I miss this, you know."

"Halloween?"

"Yeah. You and me, costumes, begging for sugar from strangers." Noctis shifts his weight, leans into Ignis, who makes a thoughtful noise. "Holding hands in public."

Ignis presses a kiss to his temple. "We did that last one just today, your Highness."

"Too long ago."

Fingers tangle together with his, and Noctis lets his weight rest against Ignis more fully.

"Oh yeah. Much better."

"...I realise it's still a few weeks away, but we _could_ participate in Halloween this year if you wanted," Ignis says, thoughtfully. "I mean. Better costumes, perhaps. But I believe there's parties and so on."

Noctis turns, and grins at his boyfriend. "You're _so_ on."

\--

It's a bit different, now; Ignis is apparently completely willing to wear the itchy beard and cowled-balding-hood of their childhood, but Noctis _doesn't_ feel like walking around bared to the waist, even with paint all over him.

So they switch.

Noctis runs his hands up Ignis's torso, following the lines of the flames Ignis painted on himself. "Damn. Ifrit wasn't this buff when we were kids."

"We are _never_ getting out of here if you do that," Ignis says, pushing Noctis's hands away. "Ramuh, really, have some restraint."

"I don't think the Six have restraint, it's not their thing."

"Well, _this_ Astral should be saving himself for Shiva, according to legend."

Noctis grins. The demure little pout Ignis has doesn't go well with the makeup, but it's cute as hell anyway. "How's the headpiece?"

"Surprisingly heavy. I'm surprised you didn't complain when we were kids."

"I was too excited. People were _scared_ of me, it was great."

"People were very willing to humour the most sweet-looking Ifrit they'd ever seen, especially when he was also the Crown Prince of Lucis" Ignis says, and tugs Noctis's beard upwards into place. "Alright. Let's go out, if you want to go out."

Noctis slides a hand up Ignis's chest, one last time, before regretfully dropping it. "Mm. Alright. Where to?"

"The park. To the Halloween festival."

It's _very_ different, wandering through the streets in their costumes as adults. Noctis slides his hand into Ignis's, smiles indulgently at the kids running around excitedly. There's even a child, apparently without any minder or caregiver, running around in a tiny Ifrit outfit that's very similar to the one Noctis wore at that age. The boy points at Ignis excitedly, roars in enthusasism, and then sprints away towards a cluster of more of the Hexatheon.

"You were cuter," Ignis says, leaning in, his horns nearly knocking into Noctis's head, "for what it's worth."

"You're biased, but okay. Come on, I can _hear_ the party."

Ignis squeezes his hand. "I did have one stop in mind, first, if you don't mind."

"Whatever you want, oh mighty Ifrit."

Noctis lets Ignis lead him into a backstreet, and up to a door that Noctis recognises. It's lit up, decorated with images of daemons and fiends, and obviously primed for receiving trick-or-treaters.

"You're kidding me," Noctis says, and laughs. "No, you're not, and it's _perfect_."

"Ready?"

"I've got my best stern face all set." Noctis plants Ramuh's staff on the step and adjusts his beard. "Go on."

The door opens.

"Rarr," Ignis intones, deadpan, as Noctis scowls fiercely. "Cower, mortal, and pay your tribute to the gods."

Cor, his expression a beautiful blend of surprise, horror and amusement, holds out the bowl of candy.

"Acceptable," Ignis says, taking a lollipop. "You will be spared our wrath."

Noctis grabs one too, and sticks his tongue out at Cor. "For now."

Cor shuts the door.

"Well," Ignis says, turning back, "I think that--"

The door opens again, and Cor gestures with his phone when they look at him. "Wait, wait. I need proof. Or his Majesty will not believe me."

They pose obligingly, Ignis curling his fingers into claws, Noctis lifting his jaw into sternness.

"Wonderful. Have fun," Cor says, and wags a finger at Noctis. "Don't traumatise the children, that's all I ask."

Ignis looks _very_ offended under his makeup. "Wouldn't dream of it."

Noctis chuckles, and pulls Ignis towards him by the arm. "Don't mind traumatising you, though, Marshall. Ever seen Astrals make out with each other?"

Cor shuts the door with impressive speed, nearly trapping his jacket in it as he does so.

"Coward."

Ignis snorts, and tugs Noctis's beard downwards. "Did you just call the Immortal a coward? Even for one of the Six, that's a bold--"

"Shh." Noctis leans in and up, and if Cor is still watching them somehow, he deserves everything he gets as Ignis allows Noctis a kiss that's _distinctly_ un-divine in nature, right there on Cor's doorstep, until the porch lights start pointedly being switched on and off.

"I think that's our hint," Ignis says, and lifts a hand to wipe away something -- makeup, probably -- next to Noctis's mouth. "Come on. The party's waiting."

Being a kid at Halloween is wonderful, but frankly, Noctis thinks, fondly, as Ignis tugs him onwards towards the park, being him _right now_ is even better.


End file.
